The folks behind Jake’s Dilemna, Down the Hatch et al are at it again.  This time, they’ve set up a location at Orchard & Stanton.  If you’ve been to their other locations (and there are many around Manhattan), this one is similar.  A sports bar (we counted 20 television monitors during our visit) offering numerous drink specials depending on the day the day of the week, Hair of the Dog is actually in a good location because the Lower East Side really doesn’t have a place like it.  There aren’t many sports bars south of Houston and not too many bars period that are open during the daylight hours in this nabe.  Like their other locations, Hair of the Dog opens at 11am daily and goes late into the night.  If you’re looking for something a little different next time you’re out in the LES, check out Hair of the Dog.

Note: The following post describes a crawl we did just prior to Hurricane Sandy.

A few good craft beer spots in and very close to Union Square.  On a recent Saturday, we visited three of them.

Heartland Brewery (35 Union Square West).  Say what you want about this now five-location-chain Manhattan spot.  Their beer is still top-notch.  We enjoyed the Red Rooster Ale on this occasion.  Typically, Heartland serves five year-round beers and another two or three seasonals.

Lillie’s (13 E. 17th Street).  The Victorian-themed spot offers nearly 20 tap beers and, on this visit, Lillie’s had a live band playing Irish music.

Wildwood BBQ (225 Park Avenue South).  More restaurant than bar, this BBQ spot offers 12 tap beers and another 30 or so bottled ones.  The bar appetizers were solid as well (try the Jumbalaya!).  Unfortunately, no photos here as our camera had run out of power.

We badly wanted to go to Little Town NYC (118 East 15th Street), but it was too crowded, so we had to end our crawl early.

During our pub crawl around Bushwick, we hit several spots.  Our favorite of the day was the Bodega Wine Bar, located at 24 St. Nicholas Avenue.  Bodega Wine Bar offers a solid selection of wine and beer, in addition to light fare, such as chacuterie, cheese and sandwiches nightly, as well as lunch/brunch starting at 11:30am.  The beer selection includes 12 taps and another two dozen bottled beers.  The selection rotates frequently.  The wine offerings numbered around two dozen (including two wines on tap!).  What we found extraordinary about the wine offerings was that anything available by the glass was also available by the bottle and vice versa.  We can’t remember any other wine bar where that occurred.

For those who don’t live in the immediate area or in nearby Williamsburg, the location is a bit out-of-the-way, but it is well worth the trip to this spot.  We plan to return soon.  Bodega Wine Bar will be the anchor spot for any Bushwick beer bar crawl or wine bar crawl.  Two photos below.